News Release

March 25, 2013Montgomery Foundation Creates Fund for Faculty Support

Southwestern is proud to announce the third in a trio of remarkable gifts that the law school has received as part of the New Era Campaign: The Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation has donated $1 million to create the Faculty Research and Retention Fund at Southwestern. This generous leadership gift provides essential support for faculty research, innovation, recruitment and retention.

Dean Emeritus Bryant Garth, who is also President of the Montgomery Foundation, was instrumental in establishing the new fund. During his tenure as dean at Southwestern, he recognized the need for substantial financial support "that will help the law school attract highly gifted teachers and scholars to join our vibrant intellectual community."

In announcing the gift, Dean Austen Parrish said, "As they perform meaningful scholarship and translate their research into policy and law, Southwestern's faculty will now have crucial additional resources for travel and collaborative exchanges with other top legal scholars."

The Montgomery Foundation has a long history of philanthropy and educational endowments and has established facilities, programs and academic chairs at some of the nation's most prominent institutions. Among them are the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professorship in Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School, the Thomas F. Geraghty Fund for Juvenile Justice at Northwestern Law School, and the Montgomery House at Dartmouth for visiting scholars.

Harle Montgomery, who passed away in 2010, was an enthusiastic supporter of the law school for many years and through the foundation provided a seed grant of $100,000 to Southwestern's Immigration Law Clinic in 2006.

"We are grateful for this tremendous leadership gift from the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation," Dean Parrish said, "and for Dean Garth's help in creating this historic fund that will enable Southwestern to support and further cultivate our outstanding faculty."